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Capture of Radiant Energy by Plants

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Agricultural Meteorology

Part of the book series: Meteorological Monographs ((METEOR,volume 6))

Abstract

Meteorology and biology share a common source of energy. The energy creating climate and nourishing life arrives as solar radiation. Green plants, of course, are the initial link in the energy chain for nearly all organisms. Plants use directly only a small but important segment of the spectrum—the visible wavelengths. This energy becomes chemically bound, and the net storage is measured as yield of dry matter. Thus, visible radiation is of particular importance to the botanist. The total radiant energy balance, however, determines much of the environment, and hence, whether the chain of processes that fix visible radiation will function well or poorly. Yields of forest, fern or farm crop are, therefore, twice linked to solar radiation, first by the requirement of visible radiation for photosynthesis and, secondly, by the effect radiation has on other factors of the environment.

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  1. The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, USA

    D. N. Moss

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© 1965 American Meteorological Society

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Moss, D.N. (1965). Capture of Radiant Energy by Plants. In: Agricultural Meteorology. Meteorological Monographs, vol 6. American Meteorological Society, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-940033-58-7_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-940033-58-7_5

  • Publisher Name: American Meteorological Society, Boston, MA

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-940033-58-7

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